Always He'll Be A True Love Of Mine
by Thirst.For.Water
Summary: Zach talks of proposing to all three of Lucy's parents in chapter 41, but the author never shows that scene in Impossible. So, brought to you, by yours truely, here is my version of that scene.


and now, a note from the author (dun, dun, DUN): okay, so...uh, i'm no good at these awful author notes, but i'm going to try to create one anyways. either way, if you want to skip this part - be my guest. i don't mind. so here it goes: this story is a one-shot that takes place between chapters 42 and 43 - where zach says that he's going to announce their engagement to lucy's parents, but the author (not me of course, but rather, the awesome nancy werlin - ha! a disclaimer, take that laywers! i don't own impossible!) never goes into how he does this. and so, after much prolonging, this is my take on this scene:

Tick, tick, tick...

The chimes of the clock were a tedious reminder of the time that Lucy had spend away from his arms. Time seemed to stretch out, mocking him with Lucy's absence. The walls seemed to close on him; the small waiting room shrinking even smaller with his impatience. Where was she?

Zach looked up at the clock as he had done for the last thirty minutes. Pacing back and forth, the rhythm of his actions did nothing to sooth his busy mind. His feet creating their own musical beat, the thumping of his shoes loud against the tiled floor. Stopping at the wall again, he looked up at the clock, and turned around again, continuing his pacing.

Where was Lucy?

Surely it couldn't take that long to see her mother - the short time of thirty minutes seemed impossibly long now. Black thoughts swirled around in Zach's head as his mind turned to worry. Had something happened to her? His strides became more frantic as he considered this; his pace matching the pace of his thoughts. Did Miranda... He couldn't even finish that thought. If something happened to her, he wouldn't know what to do. He looked up anxiously at the door seeking her arrival, and then continued to sink into his thoughts. Was she safe? Could Miranda, possibly, hurt Lucy in some way? The awful memory of Lucy's prom came back to him, now. The shards of glass, the throwing of the bottles, and oh, the incomprehesible yelling - a nightmare.

This was a mistake, Zach mused.

"For Miranda Scarborough?" The beige clothed woman said, clutching her clipboard to her chest, with a pleasant smile on her face.

Zach whirled towards the woman, followed by an anxious Leo and even more fevious Soledad. The woman studied their faces for a moment, jotted some random bit of information on her clipboard - a piece of information that, Zach impatiently thought, was not needed in this dire (or not so dire) circumstance - and lead the way through the halls to Miranda's room.

A plastic card greeted them on the front of the door; declaring the room number 211 and the holder of Miranda Scarborough. Zach mentally prepared him for what was bound to be in that room. Room 211. For a moment, he invisioned the worst: Miranda sceaming at Lucy while hurling object after object at a weakened Lucy, huddling against the cold floor, sheilding herself from-

A calm, sedated Miranda, laying on a twin bed. Zach breathed a sigh of relief, ashamed at himself for thinking of Miranda in such a way. Lucy, too, was all well; sitting next to her while stroking Miranda's hair. She wore a loving and soft expression on her face as she soothed her mother.

Soledad's shaky voice broke through the silence. "Miranda?" She said tentively, like she was afraid that she would scare her away if she made a sudden moment.

Miranda blinked her eyes open, yawning. Hearing her name being called, she searched for the owner of the voice, scanning the room with her uneven stare. Then, settling upon Soledad, Zach swore he could see a small amount of recognition before her eyes grew dim again. Making no move to come to her, or even speak, Miranda sat where she was, seeming to drink in the apperances of the new guests in her room. Then, appearing to be satisfied, she layed her head back down on the pillow, closing her eyes once more to the affection of her daughter.

"Oh, Miranda." Soledad cooed, making her way over to the resting woman. Lucy got up, seeing Soledad's apparent need to have tangible proof that Miranda, was in fact, there. Soledad switched places with her daughter, continuing the task of stroking Miranda's shiny brown hair. Then, walking over to join her, Leo moved to sit next to his wife.

Seeing all the parents, or well, Lucy's parents, all together, Zach decided that this was the moment to speak.

...Now.

He willed his mouth to open, with no avail. And...now. He looked over to Lucy, trying to build up strength. How do people do this? Zach thought frusterated. How does one, well, do this? Annouce that you're engaged? Especially when those two people had never dated. Or, for that matter, shown a romantic interest in each other at all.

Clearing his throat, he urged Lucy over. Holding her hand, he looked up to the three sets of eyes that were trained on him. "We have..." His voice flatered for a moment, the nerves catching up to him.

"We have an important announcement to make." Lucy said, glancing in his direction as if to say 'It's okay, I have your back.'

Steeling himself, he took a deep breath. "I love Lucy more than life, she's all I ever want, and all I'll ever need. And by some miracle, she loves me back. With you're blessing, I would like to marry her. To take her as my wife, and I as her husband and as the father of her child. Please give us your blessing." Lucy squeezed his hand, giving him a love filled smile. He returned one of his own, knowing with certainty that this is who he wanted. Forever.

He chuckled lightly at the cheesy thought, only loud enough for Lucy to hear. In the stunned silence, she leaned over and whispered into his ear, giving Leo, Soledad, and Miranda an endearing smile. "What's so funny?"

He whispered back, "You're turning me into cheesy, mushy, romantic, boy-goo. Help!"

Lucy gave an odd variation between a snort and a giggle. "What?"

"I...I don't know." He said with all honesty.

Leo cut our quiet conversation with a single sentence. "Are you sure?"

"We mean, are you ready for this. There's no doubt that you two love each other; I saw this coming a long time ago. But, is getting married... Can you handle that on top of everything?" Soledad interviened, gazing anxiously at the two of them. From her point of view, though this was a wonderful thing for Lucy and of course, for Zach, she was worried that between the wedding and curse the two of them would break under pressure. Not to mention a baby.

Zach didn't miss a beat. "I'm completely sure. We can handle this: a baby, a curse, a wedding - I've never wanted anything more. I only want Lucy." He smiled then, resting a hand on her stomach. "And of course, the beautiful baby that comes with her. I love her."

"And I love Zach." Lucy said, looking at him rather than her parents. "I know this is out of the blue, but... This is what I want. This is who I want. I only want Zach, forever. I love him, and I want to marry him. My daughter will have a loving father, and I'd love nothing more to have Zach as my husband. I'm sure about Zach. I've never been more sure of anything."

He faintly heard Soledad's tearful happiness in the background, and Leo's congratulations in the background. A whisper of some uninteresting secret, really - he couldn't care less what was not in his line of sight. For now, all he saw was Lucy's eyes in front of his.

Aching to kiss her, he reached out and put a hand on her cheek and moved closer. Inches apart now, he could feel her breath on his face and he touched his lips to her's. All thoughts were thrust out of his head as her rosy lips moved against his. He wrapped his strong arms around her waist, oblivious to all around him.

"Always he'll be a true love of mine." A new voice range out, and all heads turned to the burnette woman on the bed. Miranda smiled, seeing the attention on her, and continued to sing her amended song lyric. "Always he'll be a true love of mine..."


End file.
